HOLLYWOOD PARK : Single Dawn Wins at the Wire

Watching the $114,600 Hoist The Flag Stakes, Eduardo Inda said he thought his Single Dawn was the winner.

After seeing the replay of the finish a bit later, Inda--Ron McAnally’s assistant trainer--wasn’t so sure.

“I didn’t know,” he said. “I was confused.”

By the narrowest of noses, Inda’s first impression proved correct.

Getting clear sailing for the first time since he broke his maiden four races ago, Single Dawn, the 3-1 second choice, beat Pleasant Tap in the final stride Saturday before 20,134 at Hollywood Park.

Making his first start on turf after finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Single Dawn, the 2-year-old son of Grey Dawn II, covered the mile in 1:35 3/5 and provided jockey Alex Solis with his third stakes win of the nine-day meeting.

The win was especially sweet for Solis, who lost the mount after Single Dawn had traffic problems in the Del Mar Futurity. Laffit Pincay had ridden the colt in Oak Tree’s Norfolk and in the Breeders’ Cup.

“He finished very well,” Solis said. “He handled the course really well. It’s hard to say whether he’s going to do better on turf or the dirt. He handles both well.”

Pleasant Tap, who had finished sixth in the Juvenile, was his own worst enemy Saturday. Fitted with blinkers for the first time, he pulled Eddie Delahoussaye into the lead down the backstretch, then started to lug in down the stretch. Even so, he was beaten just a whisker in his fifth lifetime outing.

“He got on the bit a little down the backside and I didn’t want to fight him that much,” Delahoussaye said. “They were going slow and he was going easy.

“He’s so green. If he ever gets his act together, he’s going to be tough. He’s got a ton of talent, but he’s tough to ride.”

Doyouseehwhatisee, who won a stakes race in Florida the day before the Breeders’ Cup, was third, nearly three lengths back and a neck in front of Drag Race.

Out of the money was the Wayne Lukas entry of Land Rush and Super Mario, favored at 8-5. Victorious in five straight race back east and unbeaten in four starts on the grass, Super Mario found things much rougher on this coast. He finished 12th and last. Land Rush, fresh off an easy maiden triumph, was seventh.

When he walked into the paddock and saw his mount for Saturday’s fourth race, Gary Stevens loved the view.

“If he can run like he looks, we’ll be in good shape,” he told trainer Jack Van Berg.

A gelded son of Storm Bird, Navajo Storm was even more striking once he went to work.

Boasting the Alysheba connections--Van Berg and owners Dorothy and Clarence Scharbauer--Navajo Storm won by five lengths at first asking and covered six furlongs in a sparkling 1:08 2/5, the fastest three-quarters of the meeting.

Sent off at 6-1 in a race where nearly all of the attention was focused on the fast-working comebacker, Secret Slew, Navajo Storm broke on top, battled with longshot It’s A Gime and the 4-5 favorite, then came away through the stretch.

“Jack told me that he had done everything asked and he said he thought he was the real thing,” Stevens said. “It was unbelievable. He was running those early fractions (:21 4/5 and :44 2/5) and his ears were like helicopters. He ran that fast and I know there was a lot more in the tank if I needed it. He never even took a deep breath pulling up.

“He runs like a route horse. He’s got a nice, fluid stride and he acted like he’d run 100 times before.”

A $475,000 Keeneland Summer Sale yearling purchase, Navajo Storm was gelded in April, because Clarence Scharbauer said he was becoming “too beefy and starting to look like a quarter horse.”

Ray Sibille finds himself in an enviable position these days.

He is the jockey for Tarascon and Farma Way, a pair of impressive 2-year-old winners this past week.

After showing nothing in his August debut at Arlington Park, Farma Way routed maidens in his initial California appearance, running six and a half furlongs in 1:15 3/5, the best time of the meeting for the distance.

Two afternoons later, Tarascon made it two straight for trainer Dave Hofmans, overtaking One More Work in the final sixteenth to win in 1:16 1/5.

This left Sibille hoping he doesn’t have to decide between the two anytime soon. “With my luck. they’ll run in the same race and I’ll choose the wrong one,” said the personable rider-restaurateur.

Tarascon, a son of Flying Paster was eliminated at the start in his Oak Tree debut, then came back to beat the highly-regarded first-timer, Lord Luvabuck, in 1:08 4/5 on Breeders’ Cup Day.

The youngster went wire to wire when breaking his maiden, but he showed he doesn’t need the lead to succeed in his Friday victory. Along the inside early, he was taken outside by Sibille around the turn and unleashed a powerful move. “I just sat there,” Sibille said. “I didn’t have to ask him.”

Next up for Tarascon, who is owned by Georgia Ridder, is the Dec. 6 Hollywood Prevue at seven furlongs. This is the same race where another Ridder-owned son of Flying Paster, Past Ages, made the then-unbeaten King Glorious hustle

“We’ll see how he runs there and then make a decision about the $1 million race (the Hollywood Futurity Dec. 17),” said Hofmans, who has continuously trained a high percentage of winners throughout the last several meetings. “If he doesn’t go in there, we”ll go to the California Breeders’ Championship Stakes (next month at Santa Anita).”

Since he isn’t eligible for the one-mile Futurity, Tarascon would have to be supplemented for $25,000.

“He’s the same type of horse as Past Ages, but this is an easier horse to train,” Hofmans said. “He might run farther, too.

“He showed ability right from the beginning. I had his full sister, Kildare. She broke her maiden here first time out. We sold her after that race and she went over to Los Alamitos and won a stakes.

“He got eliminated in his first start. He threw his head in the gate and then he was caught in traffic. He got a lot of schooling in that race. I really liked his race Friday. He showed he didn’t have to be close to the pace.”

Past Ages, who has been out since March, is doing well preparing for his comeback. “He had a small stress fracture in his ankle,” said Hofmans. “He should be ready by the middle of January.”

Horse Racing Notes

Only three tickets were sold for the winners in Saturday’s first triple and each was rewarded with a record $56,993.10. The three winners were Raja’s Gran Baba at 24-1 in the first, 5-1 shot Luminescence in the second and Royal Prima Donna at 7-1 in the third. . . . After nine days, Hollywood Park is showing increases in both attendance and handle. Attendance, factoring in the intertrack sites, is up 1.4% and handle has increased 5.2%. The on-site figures are down, however. Attendance is off 5.2% and handle has declined about 4/5ths of 1%. . . .Eddie Delahoussaye and Alex Solis both doubled and continue 1-2 in the standings with the former holding a 12-10 lead.